1. Field of the Invention
The present disclosure generally relates to a toxin binding system. More particularly, the disclosure generally relates to a toxin binding system which may be safely and effectively mixed into animal feed.
2. Description of the Relevant Art
Fungal contamination of animal feed is often unavoidable and is a serious concern given that many of these contaminants include toxic metabolites known as mycotoxins. Mycotoxin contamination can occur in a crop growing in the field, or contamination may be introduced during harvest, storage and/or processing of the animal feed for use in raising monogastric and ruminal animals. Mycotoxins are fairly stable compounds often found in animal feed for monogastric and ruminal animals, and they are a known cause of a wide variety of deleterious effects in these animals. Pesticides are other common contaminants of animal feed. Endotoxins are not natural contaminants of feedstuffs. Feedstuffs can be contaminated with endotoxins when mixed with products of animal origin. Endotoxins are another type of toxin, of bacterial origin, which are commonly found in the gastrointestinal tract of livestock, and pesticides are commonly found in the foodstuffs fed to various types of livestock, and as a result, have been known to have toxic effects on livestock.
Mycotoxins are known to cause toxic, teratogenic, mutagenic, and carcinogenic effects, and have been linked to a depression of the animal's immune system. Furthermore, mycotoxins can affect different organs in an animal: urinary, digestive, nervous, reproductive, and immune systems, and as such, it makes it more difficult to establish a precise diagnosis once an animal is affected. The effects of mycotoxins, depends on the level of contamination, the presence of one or more toxins, the type of animal, its age, the time of exposure, genetic makeup, and its nutritional and health status at the time of exposure to contaminated feed.
The most dangerous mycotoxins affecting poultry are aflatoxin, ochratoxin, T-2 toxin, fumonisin, and deoxynivalenol, also known as DON. These mycotoxins, along with other trichothecene mycotoxins, can also affect monogastric and ruminants, to greater or lesser degrees.
Clays have historically been added to feed to solve the problem of mycotoxin contamination. Once bound by the clay in the gastrointestinal track, the mycotoxins are discharged in the animal's excrement with little to no harm to the animal. Another material, hydrated sodium calcium aluminosilicate clay, has also been added to animal feeds, and similarly, has proven successful in binding mycotoxins in the animal's digestive system, such that they may be safely discharged from the animal's body. More in particular, these clays have been found to act as enterosorbents that tightly and selectively bind these poisons in the gastrointestinal tract of animals, decreasing their bioavailability and associated toxicities.
Some toxins such as mycotoxins (e.g., T-2) can produce oral lesions in poultry and other animals by direct contact when the feed is ingested or after it has been absorbed through the intestinal wall and excreted through the saliva. Currently used toxin binders are not effective at binding to lipophilic toxins and typically are only effective at binding hydrophilic toxins. Oral lesions caused by direct contact of toxins are not inhibited by current products. More in particular, the T-2 toxin is known to cause lesions in the oral cavity and tongue of poultry, as a result of its caustic effect, which are oftentimes severe and sometimes deadly, upon contact with the tissue lining in an animal's mouth. Further exacerbating this situation is the fact that if the T-2 toxin finds its way to be absorbed inside the animal's blood/circulatory system may result in the toxin being subsequently excreted through the saliva of the animal in a recirculating pattern resulting in an increase of the aforementioned lesions.
Therefore a composition and/or method which provide a toxin binding capacity which may be safely mixed into animal feeds and capable of binding with mycotoxins in the animal's digestive tract would be highly desirable. It would be even more advantageous to provide a toxin binding system which may be safely mixed into animal feed and capable of binding with mycotoxins inside the animal's mouth as well as at the animal's gastrointestinal tract level. Yet a further benefit may be obtained by providing a toxin binding system which is also effective in binding other toxins such mycotoxins, endotoxins, and/or pesticides.